The Twins and Detroit Tigers finished the 162-game schedule in a first-place tie atop the American League Central and played a one-game playoff at the Metrodome on Tuesday, October 6 that was won by the Twins, 6–5, in twelve innings, giving them the division championship and a postseason berth.

The Yankees, by virtue of finishing with the best record in the American League, were given the choice of playing an eight-day series (with three off-days) or a seven-day series (with two off-days) and opted for the former.

This is the third consecutive season—and the fourth since 2004—that the Angels and Red Sox have met in the ALDS. The Red Sox swept the Angels in 2004 and 2007, and defeated the Angels 3–1 in 2008. The Twins and Yankees last met in the postseason in the 2004 ALDS, which the Yankees won 3–1.

The Angels and Yankees each swept their respective series in three games. Since the advent of division series play in 1995, this was the first time that the winners of both divisional series swept their opponents (Royals and Orioles swept both of their ALDS series in 2014, defeating the Angels and Tigers respectively). The Yankees went on to defeat the Angels 4–2 in the ALCS, and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4–2 to win the 2009 World Series.

Game 3 of the Twins–Yankees series was the final Major League Baseball game at the Metrodome, as the Twins moved into their new home stadium, Target Field, starting with the 2010 season.

TBS carried the tie breaker game and also televised all Division Series games in the United States.

In the first postseason game at the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees rebounded from an early 2–0 deficit to take the first game of the series, 7–2, behind a strong outing from CC Sabathia and timely hitting by Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui. The Twins opened the scoring in the third by stringing together three consecutive two-out hits, including an RBI single by Michael Cuddyer. One batter later, a passed ball by Jorge Posada enabled Joe Mauer to score from third, giving the Twins a 2–0 lead. The Yankees answered in the bottom of the inning when Jeter smashed a two-run home run into the left field seats, and in the fourth, a two-out RBI double off the bat of Swisher put the Yankees in front for the first time of the night. One inning later, Rodriguez broke an 0-for-29 postseason skid with runners on base (dating back to the 2004 ALCS) by lining a two-out single to left center, scoring Jeter from second and knocking Twins starter Brian Duensing out of the game. Matsui then belted a two-run home run into Monument Park off reliever Francisco Liriano, making it 6–2 Yankees. Rodriguez added another RBI single in the seventh off of John Rauch with the run charged to Liriano to complete the scoring. Sabathia settled down after the third inning, striking out eight and limiting the Twins to two runs (one earned) and eight hits in ​62⁄3 innings of work. The Yankees bullpen then combined for ​21⁄3 innings of scoreless relief.

Late-game heroics from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira powered the Yankees past the Twins in Game 2 for a commanding two-games-to-none series lead. The Twins' Nick Blackburn and Yankees' A. J. Burnett pitched five shutout innings each before Delmon Young walked with one out in the top of the sixth, stole second and scored on Brendan Harris's triple, but the Yankees tied the score in the bottom of the inning on Rodriguez's RBI single off of Blackburn. In the eighth, Phil Hughes allowed a two-out walk to Carlos Gomez, who moved to third on Harris's single and scored on Nick Punto's single. Mariano Rivera relieved Hughes and allowed an RBI single to Denard Span. With the Yankees trailing 3–1 in the bottom of the ninth, Teixeira led off with a single off Twins closer Joe Nathan, and Rodriguez followed with a dramatic game-tying two-run home run into the Yankee bullpen in right center.[7] The Yankees threatened to win the game in the tenth, putting runners on first and third with one out, but Johnny Damon lined out to shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Brett Gardner was doubled off third to end the inning. But the game, and possibly the series, turned in the top of the eleventh when the Twins mounted a threat of their own, beginning with a Joe Mauer base hit later in an at-bat in which he had already been denied a ground-rule double on a blown call by left field umpire Phil Cuzzi, who erroneously called Mauer's drive down the left field line foul. Replays showed the ball tipped off Yankees left fielder Melky Cabrera's glove and landed in fair territory by almost a foot. Two subsequent Twins hits moved baserunners up a single base and loaded the bases with nobody out, meaning that Cuzzi's officiating error very likely cost the Twins a run and possibly the game, since the latter two hits would have properly begun with Mauer at second rather than first.[8][9][10] Yankees reliever David Robertson was able to work out of the jam, bringing the total number of runners left on base by the Twins to seventeen.[11] That set the stage for Teixeira, who opened the bottom of the frame by lining José Mijares' 2–1 pitch down the line and just over the left field wall for a walk-off home run.[7]

Game 1 started off as a pitchers' duel between Los Angeles' John Lackey and Boston's Jon Lester. Each starter gave up four hits; however, one of the hits given up by Lester was a three-run home run by Torii Hunter in the fifth inning that proved to be all the run support Lackey needed. In the seventh, Ramon Ramirez loaded the bases for the Angels on a walk, hit-by-pitch and single with no outs. Takashi Saito in relief allowed a two-out Kendry MoralesRBI single that scored Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Rivera. Lackey pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings while Darren Oliver pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings. This was the first time the Red Sox had been shut out in postseason play since Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS, and the first ever shutout by Angels pitching in the postseason.

The Angels stunned the Red Sox and the Fenway crowd with two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth, overcoming late-inning deficits of 5–2 and 6–4[14] to sweep the series and advance to the American League Championship Series.

Scott Kazmir started for Los Angeles and was largely ineffective, surrendering five runs on five hits and three walks in six innings. The Red Sox struck first in the third when a one-out walk and subsequent single was followed by a two-run double by Dustin Pedroia, who scored on Victor Martinez's single to put them up 3–0. After the Angels got on the board in the fifth on Kendrys Morales's home run, J. D. Drew hit a two-run home run in the bottom half that gave Boston what seemed like a comfortable 5–1 lead. The Angels chipped away against Boston starter Clay Buchholz in the sixth, putting runners on first and third with none out before Kendrys Morales grounded into a run-scoring 5–4–3 double play.[14]